BP Plc is in talks to buy a direct stake in an East Siberian oil producer from OAO Rosneft, the Russian oil producer facing U.S. and European financing bans, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter.

The Russian Foreign Ministry denounced new Western sanctions against Ukraine's Crimea region on Saturday as a "collective punishment" on local residents who voted in a referendum last March to join Russia.

Europe must wean itself off Russian gas and look to places like the Caspian Sea or the Middle East for alternative supplies, as the conflict in Ukraine underscores the importance of energy independence

With Russia's economy battered by economic sanctions and plunging oil prices, President Vladimir Putin has allowed the central bank to administer strong medicine, sharply raising interest rates even as it freed the rouble to float.

TOTAL Senior Vice President on Strategy and Business Intelligence, Mrs. Helle Kristoffersen, stressed the importance of addressing Europe’s gas supply amidst the current crisis between Russia and Ukraine, speaking on the session panel on Global Energy Security, Supply and Demand at the Abu-Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference on November 12, 2014.

According to Gazprom’s financial report, in 2013 exports to Europe accounted for 58% of its revenue. It is true that Gazprom has been losing market share in Europe, but it has been increasingly flexible and sales rebounded in 2013.